Houston voters handily pass Prop. A for street and drainage fund

Workers repair a sinkhole in the Montrose area on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018.

Workers repair a sinkhole in the Montrose area on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018.

Photo: Samantha Ketterer

Photo: Samantha Ketterer

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Workers repair a sinkhole in the Montrose area on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018.

Workers repair a sinkhole in the Montrose area on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018.

Photo: Samantha Ketterer

Houston voters handily pass Prop. A for street and drainage fund

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A measure to "reaffirm" Houston's pay-as-you-go street and drainage fund easily passed Tuesday, eight years after voters narrowly agreed to write the program into the city charter.

Mayor Sylvester Turner had said he will implement ReBuild Houston as it is being run today even if voters had repealed the legal language that would force him to do so. The monthly drainage fee that was the program's most controversial aspect upon its launch in 2011 also is not at issue in the election.

The program's conservative opponents forced the "do-over" election this fall by convincing the Texas Supreme Court that the city's 2010 ballot language did not make clear the initiative would include a new "rain tax," as they call it. The court voided the election and ordered the vote to be held again.

The program bans the issuance of new debt for street and drainage repairs, switching instead to a pay-as-you-go model to be paid for in part by the new fee. The fund also captures mobility grants and part of the city's annual property tax allotment, generating more revenue as old road bonds are paid off.